Kate Beckinsale’s ‘Underworld’ Sequel Pushed Back to 2017

Screen Gems has moved “Underworld: Blood Wars” back three months from its pre-Halloween slot of Oct. 14 to Jan. 6, 2017.

Kate Beckinsale and Theo James are starring in the fifth film in its vampires-versus-werewolves franchise. German cinematographer Anna Foerster, a longtime collaborator with Roland Emmerich, is making her feature directorial debut and helming from Cory Goodman’s screenplay.

The four films have grossed $460 million worldwide. Thee franchise launched in 2003 with “Underworld,” directed by Len Wiseman and starring Beckinsale as the vampire Selene who is killing the Lycans (Werewolves) who allegedly slaughtered her family.

The next three films were 2006’s “Underworld: Evolution,” 2009’s “Underworld: Rise of the Lycans” and 2012’s “Underworld: Awakening.”

Time passed. We want to see a new and younger (Michael Corvin) next to the eternally beautiful KateBeckinsale (Selene). When a production like AWAKENING, which left us with a taste for so much more and still manage to do well in the box office, that must mean something. If they had taken the time to work AWAKENING involving more of normal lycans and the new story they pretended to build the movie would have been as good as the original, even without Michael. The movie required plenty more secondary antagonists. I still don’t get why the lycans were so sutile. They had Prometheus fire with Michael Corvin and Subject 02 DNA material at their disposal and they only managed to create an overgrown cub and an old lycan who had begun to inhect himself.

The first two UNDERWORLD flicks had directorial flair and highly stylized. The other two could have been written and put together by a 15 year old kid. If number 5 is to be delayed and released later can only put the smell of a lemon in the minds of the fan-base. The box-office gross of the entire franchise simply doesn’t cut when the accountants tally the final numbers. This franchise needs to die and die quickly.

I’m tired of stars skipping entries in the franchises that made them household names. Imagine the improvements of the overall arc if Damon had remained in Bourne, or Beckinsale in this case. Maybe in 10 years Smith will be in ID3?

If you acknowledge it’s the franchise / main event that brought you your best work and lasting rewards, then you must be disavowing your largest fan base, at the least neglecting it. Syllogistically speaking.

Loved the first movie….liked the second one…..the third one was decent….the fourth one was pretty mediocre. The movies have gotten progressively worse and haven’t exactly made a killing at the box office. Time to let go of this “franchise”.